Jeffrey Feltman, the UN under-secretary-general for political affairs, visited the reclusive nation between Tuesday and Friday, the first trip there by a top UN official in six years. During his visit, he met with Ri Yong Ho, the North Korean minister for foreign affairs.

Growing huge … The Thomas Fire, the largest of the blazes, is burning through Ventura County toward Los Angeles. The blaze is more than four times the size of the Tubbs Fire (36,807 acres), which was the most destructive of the fires in Napa and Sonoma counties in October.

“Our heroic armed forces have now secured the entire length of the Iraq-Syria border,” Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said on his Twitter account. “We defeated Daesh (ISIS) through our unity and sacrifice for the nation. Long live Iraq and its people.”

Judge Alex Kozinski, who for many years served as chief judge on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, is being accused of having subjected a number of the court’s female staffers to a range of inappropriate sexual actions, including as recently as 2012, the Post reports.

“You have to tend to this garden of democracy, otherwise things can fall apart fairly quickly. And we’ve seen societies where that happens,” Obama said at the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday, according to video of the event.

Historic residences don’t get much more regal than Buckingham Palace in (CNN) – London. Originally owned by the Duke of Buckingham, Buckingham House (as it was known then) was bought by King George III for his wife Queen Charlotte in 1761.

An actress who starred in Bollywood’s biggest film says she was molested on a flight between Delhi and Mumbai. Zaira Wasim, 17, said a “middle-aged man” repeatedly moved his foot up and down her neck and back while she was “half-asleep”.

Protesters have clashed with Lebanese security forces near the US embassy north of the capital, Beirut, the latest demonstration against President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon to force back flag-waving protesters. Overnight the Arab League condemned the US decision.

Twenty-four women have been charged with indecency after being caught wearing trousers at a party near the Sudanese capital Khartoum. The gathering was raided by morality police on Wednesday. The women could face punishment of 40 lashes and a fine for wearing what is described as an obscene outfit.

Marine life is facing “irreparable damage” from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste which ends up in the oceans each year, the United Nations has warned. “This is a planetary crisis… we are ruining the ecosystem of the ocean,” UN oceans chief Lisa Svensson told the BBC this week.

California has experienced one of the worst years on record for wildfires. Residents of the Golden State finally found respite from a yearslong drought when it officially ended in April ― but, as it turned out, some of the worst fires in California’s history were just around the corner.

It’s not that democracy is “fragile,” exactly, but it is “reversible,” according to former President Barack Obama. During an interview earlier this week at the Economic Club of Chicago, Obama reminded his audience to remain vigilant in protecting the values and institutions that make up American democracy or risk following in the path of Nazi Germany.

If you’ve been hardened by humanity’s behavior over the last year, this video will help pierce the stone armor encasing your heart. The producers behind the YouTube channel People Are Awesome, a collection of astounding clips of human beings performing incredible feats, have put together their “best of 2017” compilation video.

Not a week seems to go by without a snap of Kim Jong Un sparking a fierce so-called “Photoshop Battle” on Reddit. This week is no exception, with an undated photograph of the North Korean dictator posing next to millions of potatoes providing the inspiration.

Charlie Sheen is suing the National Enquirer over the publication of a Nov. 8 report alleging the actor raped then-child star Corey Haim in the 1980s. The suit, filed Friday in Los Angeles, called the story an “egregious, hurtful, and disgusting campaign of defamations,” according to court documents obtained by Variety.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi held its star-studded world premiere at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Saturday night, and the credits had barely finished rolling before attendees hit Twitter to share their first reactions to Rian Johnson’s take on the Skywalker saga. While spoilers and plot details are under strict embargo until Dec.

Try naming a Zac Efron movie in which he doesn’t kiss someone. I dare you. His latest film, The Greatest Showman, is no exception, and according to him, it might have been the best kiss of any film he’s done so far.

With each passing day comes yet another reason to question the notion that the long arc of the universe bends toward justice. However, this year, in particular, has made it resoundingly clear that – regardless of the direction of that arc – the process by which it bends manifests with stuttering jolts and fits.

Chance the Rapper and his signature 3 hat took over the news in Illinois on this very cold morning. In an unexpected reprisal of his television reporter character from Saturday Night Live , the Chicago native hopped in front of a green screen on Friday and delivered the day’s weather like a pro.